Saturday, December 31, 2011

Every year, (since way back in 2009 when I started home-brewing) SheppyBrew brewery brews an X-Mas Ale. Every year (since way back in 2009 when I started home-brewing) I get out a bottle of all the years' X-Mas ales and try them together. This year was no exception, although it did take me longer this year to get around to it. New Year's Eve (yes the very last day of the year).

Friday, December 23, 2011

So, remember I told you I had joined foursquare and decided I was making it my mission to become the mayor of something? I mentioned that the health club I go to is probably the best bet (see Running for Mayor @BallyFitness). Just so you know, I am totally on track to become mayor of my Bally Total Fitness club. I've checked into Bally 6 times in 8 days, so I'm on pace to overtake the current mayor easily in the next 60 days as he is averaging one check-in every two days (30 check-ins in a 60 day period). If my calculations are correct, and if I maintain this pace, I will get to 30 check-ins in about 32 days from today.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Connor and I visited Golden, CO on Saturday.We just sort of wandered around through the down-town area. Here are some pictures.

Right in the down-town area of Golden is the Clear Creek History Park. The park consists of a bunch of old-time buildings representing what life would have been like in the old gold-rush days. It is sort of fun to walk around and look at the buildings.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

After using Untappd for a month, I shared the badges that I had "earned" (see First Month of Untappd). Since then, I decided to check out foursquare . Mostly because Untappd can share its check-ins with foursquare.

The first place I checked in was my health club Bally Total Fitness. When I checked in, foursquare told me that "the mayor" was currently there. Interestingly enough, I recognized the face, although I don't really know the guy. I might have said "hi" to him once or twice, but maybe not. Of course, I had no idea what being a fourquare mayor meant, but I knew I had to try to become the mayor of something.

Friday, December 16, 2011

I mentioned last year what a loser I am. Last year, I was completely dominated by my sister (Mrs. Bluefield) in our unofficial monthly blog post "competition". In the article, I mentioned that as of December 2010, I had "won" 3 months during the year to her 8 months. We ended up in a tie in December, and I had to work really hard to scrap for the tie. She coasted through the month effortlessly.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The former CEO of the company that I formerly worked for announced last Wednesday:

"Because of Beth’s recent chili smack talk, we will have a Chili-icus Cook Off. The competition will be Monday, December 12th. All types of chili will be accepted (...even potentially lame white bean and chicken chili from Ariel…)."

I had the former CEO's chili before, and while it is a fine chili, I would not characterize it as spectacular in any way. It is strikingly mundane. Personally, out of all the chili I've had in the past year, I would rank his somewhere around the 45th percentile. (leave a comment if you come across this, Tim)

I had not made chili in awhile, but I knew that I can make better chili than the chili he has given me.

I got a vote for Irish Red (which would have been my new recipe of Eric's Red), and I got two votes for Black IPA. Since I really could have gone either way (and my wife didn't chime in with her typical override power), I found myself at the Brew Hut Thursday grabbing the ingredients for my Stone Soup IDA.

When I told Jeff (one of the guys who works at the Brew Hut) the grain bill and he saw the hops I was grabbing, he recognized that I was making a Black IPA. He mentioned that he hadn't brewed a Black IPA in awhile and really needs to make one. I told him that I have been telling myself forever that I need to make this recipe, but just never get around to it. Too many other beers to brew. If you brew beer, you probably know the feeling. He certainly did.

Thursday, December 08, 2011

I got an email from the Contact Me form from a person who read my Happy #RepealDay post. She referred me to an article on the accreditedonlinecolleges.org blog: "28 Facts You Should Toast Post-Repeal Day". It is an interesting list of beer (and other alcohol ... but the beer stuff interests me the most) related factoids and links to more information on each of the facts.

I found it interesting and informative. You should check out the whole list:

---EDIT 05/10/2013 --- I got an email from a guy at accreditedonlinecolleges.org telling me that the link would go away and that I should remove it from my blog. That was nice of him. Now that the link is going away I am copying / pasting the post here so you can look at it. Credit goes to accreditedonlinecolleges.org

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28 Facts You Should Toast Post-Repeal Day

For those who just can't wait until St. Patrick's Day to celebrate the joy and joy-ness that is alcohol, Repeal Day
fell earlier this week. Celebrating the passing of the 21st Amendment,
which overrode the 18th outlawing the distribution and production of
alcoholic beverages, it also stands as a lovely little way for the
particularly patriotic to recognize America's freedoms. Most
appropriately, with a cocktail or two in hand.

When enjoyed in low or moderate amounts, University of Auckland
researchers noted that alcohol can actually improve one's memory and
cognitive abilities. Low or moderate being the operative words here –
depending on weight, gender, genetics and overall health, this means no
more than one to three beers daily.

Great news for oenophiles! Red wine contains reservatrol, an
antioxidant Rochester University scientists discovered helps kills
cancer cells when combined with irradiation. Although it can't be
considered a definitive cure-all, this might very well make wine an
important ally in prevention and treatment alike.

Along with reservatrol, red wine also contains flavanoids,
antioxidants which encourage healthier hearts. When combined with a
regimen of exercise and nutritious diet, they increase HDL cholesterol
(the good kind), reduce inflammation and thin the blood to prevent
dangerous clots.

More than heavy drinkers to abusers, obviously, but they also fare
better than their teetotaler peers! Not only do they enjoy a lessened
risk of heart disease and cancer, dementia, Alzheimer's (thanks to the
improved memory!), strokes, enlarged prostates and arthritis – among
other conditions – occur at a lower rate as well. In fact, researchers
at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism discovered
that low to moderate drinkers had the lowest death rate of all causes
than anyone else on the consumption spectrum.

It seems bizarre and obviously counter to what one would assume,
but this is a thing. Researchers can't exactly pinpoint the exact reason
why the phenomenon of high-carb beverages resulting in minimal (if any)
weight gain exists. Some theories think alcohol's increase of
metabolism plays a role, while some think it discourages consumers from
noshing on sugars. Although this doesn't explain away their compulsion
towards beautifully greasy tacos once the bars close…

Hardly surprising, considering how they invented a myriad of other
useful products still seeing action today, like paper, printing,
fireworks, noodles and the like. University of Pennsylvania's Dr.
Patrick McGovern and crew noted residue evidence of a wine brewed from
honey, rice, and hawthorn fruit and/or grapes sticking to pottery dating
back to 7000 to 6000 BCE. If his conjectures are correct, this means
the earliest (currently) known, regularly consumed wine hails from Jiahu
in the Henan Province.

Some say the ancient Greeks (or were they Romans?) dunked actual
toast into their wine. Others think the tradition started as a way to
test beverages for poison, making sure to clink glasses in a manner
spilling drops into one another's cups. Just share any of the theories
on Repeal Day. They're all pretty much equally viable these days.

Long before the straws known and loved today – about 5,000 to 7,000
years ago, apparently. Using natural products, the ancient innovators
enjoyed beers without accidentally ingesting the solids left over after
brewing.

Females, by contrast, held the exclusive privilege of maenadism.
Neither ritual servicing the god of wine himself existed as the
orgiastic, ecstatic rampages as depicted in the mass media. That would
actually be the Romans and their Bacchanalia, which eventually grew so
frenetic the government had to heavily restrict worship and laid waste
to a goodly chunk of shrinage.

Interestingly enough, it didn't start out describing intoxicating
liquids, but rather cosmetics (Arabic), particularly those containing
antimony (Latin). Alcohol (and al-kuhul) first appeared
around the 1540s with this definition, eventually broadening to include
any pure substance in the 1670s. The first known time "alcohol" as
understood in today's English was 1753, referring to wine.

Nestled in the formerly eponymous Bavarian village (now known as
Freising), the Weihenstephan Abbey houses Benedictine monks (not all
Christians abstain!) keeping their beer brewing tradition alive longer
than any other brewery in the world. These days, it touts its actual
founding year as 1040, though references to receiving hops as tribute
start in 768, and focuses mainly on producing lagers and wheat beers.

Christenings themselves actually date back to ancient times, but
the first recorded instances of champagne's use in the proceedings
happened on November 18, 1890. Then-Secretary of the Navy Benjamin P.
Tracy's granddaughter shattered a bottle of bubbly against the first
American steel battleship, Maine.

And it only took 200 years! South of Aaland in the Baltic Sea,
divers stumbled across a shipwreck with 168 champagne bottles and an
unknown amount of beer. They handed it over to a sommelier. Then they
totally drank it. Apparently the booze, which kept nice and cool at the
bottom of the ocean, tasted just as fresh as it would have back in the
1830s when it was originally whipped up.

Obviously, if not before. 1587 merely marks the first known
homebrewed beer in the United States. Whipped up in the Virginia
colonies, it was likely made with corn rather than the hops American
beer is mostly known for today.

Despite stern cover warnings about the illegal nature of
homebrewing, Fred Eckhert's 1970 manifesto praised the practice,
offering up instructions, recipes, and welcome relief from the same old
swill. About 110,000 copies of this self-published, now classic, read
sold and required seven printings to meet demand.

Among others, including California's Homebrew Club of the Year
winner in 2010! Since 1974, these passionate Los Angeles-based
homebrewers have banded together to spread a love of craft beer and DIY
sensibilities, inspiring hundreds (if not thousands) of local groups
nationwide.

It is, however, perfectly legal on a federal level – but only
fermented, never distilled, beverages. Be sure to check the latest
information before pursuing homebrewing as a hobby or home-based
business. Even the states allowing it still regulate how much and how
strong one can make.

Yes, Congress officially recognizes a National Homebrew Day as of
1988. Fans celebrate by guzzling down some of their favorite beers or
trying something new, while many creators themselves participate in the
American Homebrew Associations yearly Big Brew event.

Definitive statistics on just how widespread homebrewing really is
don't exist, but popular site USABeerTrends offers up the best insight
so far. Thirty-six percent of its participating readers hailed from
Texas, followed at 21% out of California. Whipping up craft brews at
home also pique many creative connoisseurs in Florida, Colorado,
Washington, Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia, Oregon, Alaska, Indiana,
Maryland, Missouri, and Pennsylvania.

The very same USABeerTrends survey noted that only the under-21 and
over-50 crowd seemed to shy away from homebrewing. Every other
demographic more or less enjoy it in equal measure, though 30% between
41 through 50 craft their own beers as opposed to 35% for both 21
through 30 and 31 through 40.

And they partner up with over 1,300 breweries beneath The Brewers
Association (founded 1941!) umbrella. Since 1982, thousands of members
and beer aficionados have flocked to Boulder, Colorado to enjoy the
Great American Beer Festival the organizations holds as a celebration of
these hearty libations.

An alternate name for the National Prohibition Act, Woodrow Wilson
rejected the Volstead Act for technical rather than ethical reasons,
only to be overridden by both the House of Representatives and the
Senate the very same day.

Wine and spirits drinkers were left luckless when Franklin
Roosevelt passed the Cullen-Harrison act in 1933, addressing Depression
demand for something soothing to quell the…well…depression. This
amendment to the Volstead Act legalized beer with an alcohol content of
3.2% or below.

Shortly after FDR passed the Cullen-Harrison Act, the federal
government decided to repeal Prohibition altogether, meeting Americans'
demands and intending to curb illegal profiteering. The 21st Amendment
overrode the 18th, stoking the ire of the temperance organizations
responsible for its initial passing.

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Obviously, the beer facts (especially those on home-brewing) are most interesting to me.

Do you find any of these interesting / informative? (leave a comment).

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

I started using the social media drinking site "Untappd" about a month ago. I've been aware of Untappd for awhile, but never realized that they allowed people to enter their own home-brews to the database. Since most of what I drink is home-brew, it didn't seem like something I would be real interested in.

It does turn out to be an interesting way to track the beers that you drink. If you are a craft beer fan (beer geek), it is somewhat worthwhile to track your beer consumption. It helps remind you what you drank and how you liked it.

Monday, December 05, 2011

Did you know that December 5th (today) is Repeal Day? I didn't know until I got my December CraftBeer.com newsletter last Thursday. CraftBeer.com has an informative article about today's holiday: Celebrate Repeal Day: December 5.

In case you are too lazy to follow the link and can't guess from the context, the 21st amendment was ratified and prohibition was repealed on December 5th, 1933. Seems like as good a reason as any to celebrate. Don't you think? I think I'll have a beer today to toast the occasion.

Strange ... today isn't a work holiday for me. Seems like it should be.

Saturday, December 03, 2011

On Thanksgiving itself, I had the New Glarus Wisconsin Belgium Red. This beer was tied for #16 on the list, and I've been trying to get some since last year's list. Since New Glarus doesn't distribute to Colorado, and they didn't bring this beer to GABF, I am lucky to have family living in Wisconsin who were willing to help me get this beer. And I really enjoyed it with my Thanksgiving dinner. No one else at the table was much of a fan, which was fine since it meant I could have most of it. Both the aroma and flavor were full of cherry, but it had a nice Belgium malt backbone with nice funky notes from the yeast. This beer was indeed worthy of the list. It isn't something I would want to drink everyday, but it is nice for special occasions.

Friday, December 02, 2011

This would have been a great video to share on Black Friday, but I didn't come across it until yesterday. I think this was very funny. It made me LOL. I was very close to ROFL. I didn't, however, LMAO.

Example - Hanson To Launch Mmmhop Beer
The band "Hanson" is apparently developing their own IPA. They are going to call it MmmHop. I didn't realize these guys were even around. I'm not sure I care they are making a beer. Someone tell me, did Hanson ever do anything besides their one "hit" MMMBop?

Thursday, December 01, 2011

I am shocked to report that November on this blog broke its "page view" record. This is the seventh month in a row of record breaking "page views" on this blog. After Thanksgiving weekend, I was sure that this month had no chance of getting its page views above October's, but these past few days showed pretty strong.

I am certain that December can't break this record. There is no way it can happen.

What have people been reading? This month, the most viewed posts on this blog have been: